Wild Mutants, Wayward Hearts
by Red Witch
Summary: When Kurt breaks up with Tabitha, her day goes from bad to worse. Who can she turn to in her time of need?


**Tabitha blew up the disclaimer telling all you good people that I don't own X-Men Evolution characters. So according to "Shadowdance" something must have happened to Kurt/Tabitha's relationship. Probably during that episode "Walk on the Wild Side" which was skipped! So I guess both Kurt/Tabitha fans, (which includes me) and Kurt/Kitty fans got their teeth kicked in with this episode. Well here's my take on it. It's a bit serious in some places, but it does explain why Tabitha sticks around with the Brotherhood boys! This takes place a few days before "Shadowdance." **

**Wild Mutants, Wayward Hearts**

"Oh man that was sooo funny," Tabitha laughed as she and Kurt came out of class. "I loved it when the milk exploded all over his face!"

"Yeah a real blast," Kurt grumbled. "I got detention because of it!"

"I didn't know he'd pick on you did I?" Tabitha said. "Don't worry, I can think up ways of getting him back."

"Tabitha will you cool it with the practical jokes!" Kurt hissed. "They've lost their charm."

"Come on Blue don't be so serious!" Tabitha pouted. "I was only having fun!" 

"Funny how every time you have fun I end up in trouble!" Kurt fumed. "I think maybe Jean was right. We should give each other some space. Permanently!" 

"What are you saying?" Tabitha's heart stopped. "You're breaking up with me?"

"We were never exactly a couple to begin with," Kurt said. "I'm sorry Tabby. It just won't work out between us."

Anger rose in Tabitha's mind. "FINE!" She shouted as Kurt walked away. "WHO NEEDS A GEEK LIKE YOU ANYWAY!" She looked around at the other students staring at her. "WHAT ARE ALL OF YOU LOOKING AT? HASN'T ANY OF YOU SEEN TWO KIDS FIGHT BEFORE? WHY DON'T YA TAKE A PICTURE? IT'LL LAST LONGER!" 

She stormed into the girl's bathroom. She had study hall in the library next so it didn't matter if she was late. She slammed the door behind her as she went into the stall. 

_I will not cry, _She told herself, forcing the tears back. _I will not cry. No guy is worth crying over._

"Hey did you hear? Kurt finally broke up with that trampy Smith girl!" 

Tabitha's heart grew cold as she listened in.

"I don't know what he saw in her," The other girl said. "She's like so obvious!"

"Speaking of obvious, who do you think Jean is taking to the dance? She is so lucky that she's got two guys fighting over her!" 

Tabitha barely heard the rest of the conversation. Frustration and anger and humiliation fought to control her mind. _How come when Jean strings two guys along she's called popular, but when I flirt with one guy I'm called a tramp?_ She thought. _And if I were a guy, well I'd be considered a real ladies man. Double standards, yeah life's fair!_

She waited until they had left and the bell had rang to come out of the stall. "Well, it never would have worked anyway," She said to herself. She held her head high and walked to class. She just happened to look into one of the classrooms when she saw a sight that infuriated her. Kurt was talking with another girl. No, not just talking. He had that same look he used to have when he talked with her not so long ago. The girl was making shy eyes at him. Kurt was nervous, but happy to be talking to her. 

She walked away a few steps. "You're seeing things," She told herself. "You just broke up with the guy and automatically you're jealous of the first girl he talks too. Kurt's not like that. I know it." Still she couldn't resist another peek. 

There they were working together. _They're just doing work together, nothing to get worked up about…wait, did he just wink at her? _She thought. _I know that look on his face…I know what that look means! I mean I'm pretty good at reading body language. _Kurt looked like he was blushing as Amanda giggled. Tabitha stormed down the hall. 

_I thought he liked me!_ Tabitha fumed to herself. _He said I was the first person to see beyond his looks! So what does he do? He dumps me and flirts with the first cute girl he sees! _ When no one was looking she slipped an energy bomb into his locker and trashed it. She walked away feeling very satisfied. _I don't need him! I don't want him!_

She made her way to the library. Lance was hanging around in back, the others were nowhere to be seen. "Hey Tabby," Lance smirked. "What's new?" 

"Nothing," Tabitha put on a brave face. "What's shaking with you? Waiting for Kitty to ask you to the dance?" 

"No," Lance looked away. "Nope. You ask the furball?"

"He's too busy making goo goo eyes at that Amanda person," Tabitha spat.

"Really?" Lance perked up. "That's great! Well if he's no longer interested in Kitty…"

"Lance, Kitty's right about one thing!" Tabitha snapped. "You can be a real jerk!" She shoved him into the bookshelves and took off.

"What'd I say?" Lance was puzzled as people watched him lying there on the floor covered in books. 

Needless to say, Tabitha ended up in detention. _The perfect end to a perfect day,_ She thought to herself as she grabbed a newspaper to pass away the time. For once none of the guys had detention and they were off to who knew where. _Probably off having fun without me, _She sighed glumly as she idly flicked through the pages. _So what's going on in the world? Blah, blah, bl…What?!_

Tabitha's heart nearly stopped as she read the headline. **CONVICTS ESCAPE FROM PRISON IN DARING GETAWAY.** She couldn't believe what she read as she scanned the article. **Last night in a daring prison break four convicts escaped a maximum security prison. **She scanned over the article and looked again at the pictures of the inmates who escaped. _Oh no…!_ She recognized one of the pictures. 

_Not again…_She started to shake. _I gotta get out of here!_ She looked up. Seeing that the sub was sound asleep she decided it was a good time for her to sneak out. She took her chance and managed to sneak out of school. _Now how do I get home?_ She looked around nervously. _Can't wait for the bus! I'll have to walk. Better make a run for it! Wait! _

She saw a familiar face spraypainting something on a certain principal's car. "Pietro!"

"Geeze Tabby you nearly gave me a heart attack!" Pietro sputtered, nearly dropping the can of spray paint. 

"Speedy I need your help!" Tabitha said. "You gotta take me home!"

"Sure Tabby, just as soon as I come up with an appropriate rhyme for moron."

"No I need to go home now!" Tabby pleaded. "Please!" 

"Gee Tabby what's the rush? You wanna avoid another encounter with Blue Boy?" Pietro smirked.

"I really don't want to talk about it," Tabby's voice grew higher. "I just need to go home now! Please!" Tears started to form in her eyes.

"Oh all right," Pietro sighed. "This was getting dull anyway! My muse has left me!" He picked her up in his arms. "Hang on!" He took off and they raced home. 

They were at the Brotherhood house in no time at all. "Here we are!" Pietro sang as he dropped her off at the door. "The Quicksilver Express has arrived!"

"Thanks Speedy," Tabitha jumped from his arms and ran upstairs, unable to fight the tears any more. She ran up to her room and threw herself on the bed, sobbing. 

"Hey Tabs," Pietro shouted through the door. "What's a matter? No thank you kiss!"

"Go away Speedy!" Tabitha sobbed. "I don't wanna talk about it!" 

"I was gonna say I told you so about the fuzzball, but…oh well. I told you so!" 

"Get lost!" Tabitha screamed. 

That was when the door fell open. Pietro leaned on the doorframe.

"You know you really should have fixed that lock on your door," Pietro replied smugly. "I mean you can only boom it apart so many times before it doesn't work."

"Will you get out of here!" Tabitha screamed, throwing a pillow at him. Then she turned back to the bed and sobbed. 

"Tabby?" Pietro looked at her. "What's wrong? You're not crying over that blue fuzzball are you?"

"Go away!" She sobbed. 

"Something really is wrong," He zipped over to her bed. "Now I promise I won't tease you about it. Honest."

"My father…" Tabitha sobbed. "He…He escaped. I can't go back to school! He'll just track me down again and ruin my life again and I just don't want to deal with him anymore. I've had enough with Blue dumping me and….I feel like such an idiot feeling like this but…" 

"It's okay Tabby," Pietro gently shushed her and stroked her hair. "It's gonna be okay. You're having a bad day but now I'm gonna make it all better. Promise. Just calm down a little. Shhhhh. That's a girl." When Tabitha calmed down he raced to the door and shouted at the top of his lungs. "GUYS! EMERGENCY MEETING RIGHT NOW! MOVE IT!" 

"What's going on?" Todd asked as he and the others came in the room. 

"What's up?" Fred asked. "Hey Tabby…are you crying?"

"Boom Boom actually shedding tears?" Lance looked at her in disbelief. "What happened?"

"Tabby's old man broke out of jail," Pietro explained. "She's scared he's gonna come get her or something." 

"Like to see him try," Fred flexed his muscles. "Don't worry Tabby! If that jerk tries anything…"

"Yeah he's gonna get a Brotherhood Style Butt Whooping!" Todd crowed.

"Will all of you just…!" Tabitha cried even harder. 

"I think what the guys are trying to say is we won't let him hurt you," Lance said gently. 

"So don't worry," Pietro said sitting next to her and giving her a hug. "It'll be okay. He won't come after you anyway. Not after last time. So forget about it."

Tabitha pulled away trying to compose herself. "Thanks. Look I just need to be alone right now? Okay?"

"Okay," Pietro got up. "We'll give you some time to calm down, but when you're ready we are gonna have some good times! Okay?"

"Okay," She sniffed. "I just need to, y'know, pull myself together. I'll be okay in a few minutes. I just…"

"Hey we get the message yo," Todd raised his hands. "We'll back off."

"Yeah we'll let you uh," Lance fumbled for words as they left the room. "You know…uh…get out of your system or whatever."

"Way to go Lance," Pietro grumbled. "Come on!"

"So what are we gonna do to cheer her up?" Todd asked as they went downstairs. 

"Maybe we oughta stay in tonight," Pietro suggested. 

"Yeah we could get some pizzas, play some tunes," Lance nodded. 

"I'm up for that!" Fred nodded. 

"Oh yeah," Pietro's voice dropped down to a whisper. "One more thing, don't bug Tabby about the blue furred freak okay? She's on edge enough."

"Got it," Todd nodded. 

"What about the freak?" Lance blinked.

"They broke up yo!" Todd snapped at him. "It was all over the school today!" 

"Really?" Realization hit Lance. "Oh man no wonder she shoved me into the shelves!" 

"Ya think?" Todd looked at him.

"And you call me thick?" Fred grumbled. 

"Way to go Mr. Sensitivity," Pietro rolled his eyes. "No wonder she's bawling her eyes out! Come on, I have an idea!" 

A few minutes later Tabitha stopped crying. She put a brave face over her emotions and went downstairs. She was surprised by what she saw. The entire living room had been transformed into an approximation of a jungle paradise. There were plants all over the room, including some palm trees. Fake tiki torches blazed, stuffed colorful birds hung from the ceiling suspended by wire, there was food on a long table. Even a mini volcano spewing some kind of red foam was there. Jimmy Buffet music was playing. The boys were wearing tropical themed clothing. Lance and Pietro were wearing Hawaiian shirts with straw hats and sunglasses. Todd and Fred were dressed up as Gilligan and Skipper from the old TV show. All of them were wearing leis. 

"ALOHA!" They all shouted. 

"Welcome to Hawaii!" Pietro said as he placed a lei around Tabitha's neck.

"You guys…" Tabitha's eyes welled with tears.

"Tut Tut," Pietro wagged his finger. "No need for tears good lady!" 

"That's right!" Fred smiled. "So prepare yourself for a three hour tour of Hawaii! Complete with a luau!" He pointed to the food. "We couldn't find Hawaiian food so we got Chinese instead!" 

"Well let's dig in! I'm starving!" Tabitha cheered, acting like her old self. She still felt a little blue, but her friends made her feel better enough to mask her feelings. She ate with relish and they laughed and joked as they ate.

"And now for the main attraction!" Pietro shouted as they finished their meal. "The hula dance!"

Todd danced around with a grass skirt thrown over his outfit. "Aloha Hoy!" He sang as he did his own impression of the hula. "Aloha Hoy, La la, la da ya ta da da oy!"

"I wanna hula too!" Tabitha shouted, soon she was singing and dancing at the top of her lungs with Todd. Soon they all joined in. For a while Tabitha forgot everything but the joy of the moment. 

But when the doorbell rang, it hit her again at full force. 

Tabitha fought to control herself, trying not to shake with fear. Lance nodded to Fred. With a determined look, Fred walked to the front door and opened it with full force. "Whaddya want?" He roared.

"Umm," A young man in his twenties with dark hair in a nice suit blinked. "I'm here to take a poll."

"We don't have any poles," Fred said. "What are you some kind of nut that goes around looking for stray poles?"

"Um…" The man began.

"I mean who goes door to door looking for stray poles lying around people's yards?" Fred continued. 

"Out of the way Einstein," Lance shoved Fred aside and folded his arms at the intruder. "What can I do for you? What do the high and mighty geeks want to know about us lowly plebes now?"

"Um," The man was very confused. "I am conducting a poll for the Friends of Senator Mason. Um, where is the head of the household?"

"You're looking at him," Lance pointed to himself. 

"Since when?" Todd asked. Lance elbowed him. "Hey!"

"Um, isn't your father or some adult around?" The young man looked around nervously.

"He went out for cigarettes and never came back," Todd said. "So what can we do for ya?" 

"Well uh," The young man fumbled with his papers. "I'd like to know what the voter of the household thinks about Senator Mason's proposal to…"

"Wait a minute," Lance interrupted. "Senator Mason? Senator Mark Mason?" 

"Yes that's him."

"Senator 'Let's Slash the Education System Budget So Us Big Shots in Congress Can Have Another Pay Raise Mason'?" Lance's eyes narrowed. "Senator 'Let's Get Rid of the Free Lunch Program at Schools So I Can Go Spend More Money on My Mistress in the Bahamas Mason'? Senator 'Let's Dump Toxic Wastes Near Schools Mason'?" 

"Uh…." The pollster gulped. 

"Ain't he the guy who got rid of the free heating oil for poor people program in this state?" Fred asked.

"Yeah," Todd snarled. "And ain't he the guy who raised taxes and promised to give money back but never did?"

"You've heard of him?" The pollster replied nervously.

"The one time I'm glad they make us read newspapers in Civics class," Lance said. "As a taxpayer I wanna few words with you. They are: Where is my check?"

"Oh look at the time!" The pollster looked at his watch. "Gotta go!" 

"GET HIM!" Lance shouted as he, Fred and Todd went after him. 

"We want our money!" Todd shouted as they chased after the poor pollster. 

Pietro laughed so hard he had to hold his sides. "Oh man that is great! We gotta see what they do to…Tabby? He looked around. "Tabby where'd you go?" He ran around and looked for her. 

Tabitha had climbed out of one of the windows and was on the roof, looking at the stars. The night was warm, but she still shivered anyway. "What are you doing here?" Pietro looked at her. "Are you pulling a 'Kitty'?"

"I just needed to clear my head," She shrugged. "When that doorbell rang, and I thought…I nearly freaked."

"Well that's certainly understandable," Pietro climbed up on the roof next to her.

"I guess it seems weird to you being afraid of my father even though I have these powers," She sighed.

"Not really," Pietro said. "If you don't wanna talk about it, it's okay. I mean, we all have secret scars from our pasts. I mean you should hear about the winners Lance was stuck with in foster homes, Freddy's dumped him and Toad's…Well he never told us the whole story, but from what I sniffed out, it's pretty messed up."

"And yours?" She smirked. 

"Let's just say it's…interesting and leave it at that," Pietro said. He then looked at her with a twinkle in his eyes. "I like to remain a man of mystery." 

"I'll bet," She smiled. "It's just…I loved my father so much that I would do anything to get his attention. But he never loved me. He was just using me to get money. I think I figured that out finally when he reached for the cash instead of me back when …you know, just before I left the Geek Squad." 

"I know that story," Pietro sighed. "And here's the part where Blue Boy comes in. You thought he'd be there for you and he wasn't. You thought he could be different than other guys but he wasn't. The same disappointment you had with your father. Yada…yada…yada…" 

"How did you..?" She looked at him.

"Pop psychiatry," Pietro shrugged. "Hey I've been around the couch a couple times. You pick up a few things. But it's true right?"

"Yeah," she looked away. "I really thought he was the one. Boy did I make a mistake."

"So? Is that worth getting bummed over?" Pietro asked. "There are plenty of much better guys out there. Hundreds actually."

"And I suppose you've included yourself in that number?" Tabitha smirked.

"Hey I'm in the top ten!" Pietro grinned. "Personally I don't know why anyone bothers to tie themselves down in the first place. We're too young to be too serious. Why not flirt and have fun while you can? What's the harm?"

"You got a point Speedy," Tabitha smirked, feeling a little better. 

"I know exactly how you feel," Pietro told her. "There's nothing wrong with wanting someone to feel safe with. But the truth is, the only person you can really rely on is yourself. But that shouldn't stop you from having fun every now and then. Well actually you should have fun every minute of the day if possible!"

"Who said it does stop me?" She sighed, the corner of her mouth turning upward in a half smile.

"So you got burned," Pietro shrugged. "It happens. But you and I both know there's no point dwelling on the past. What good does that do? It's the present that counts."

"Live for the moment," Tabitha said. "Who cares what happens tomorrow as long as you have fun tonight!"

"And don't listen to those jerks at school that call you a tramp," He told her. "They're just jealous of you. I say if you've got it, flaunt it! You've got it. They don't. Simple as that." 

"It's just stupid double standards that's all," Tabitha held her head up.

"That's right!" Pietro pointed out. "The same kind of double standards the Geek Squad live by! Any mutant who doesn't play by the rules or acts perfect or fits into their neat boring little world is automatically a bad guy! It's all a hypocritical phony act. Take Red for instance. I'd take a girl who's an honest flirt over a two faced bimbo who pretends she's little Miss Innocent and having guys fight over her."

"So who needs an X-Geek for a boyfriend anyway?" She said. "Actually who needs anybody else but your buds? A single girl needs to be free, not tied down!"

"That's a girl!" Pietro said. "Now how are we gonna get that geek back?"

"I already trashed his locker," Tabitha said.

"It's a start," Pietro grinned. 

"Hey Tabby!" Todd's voice rang through the air. "Great news! Where are you? Oh there you are!" He stuck his head out the window. "We got money! But even better, we just turned the TV on, and the cops nabbed your old man!" 

"Are you sure?" Tabitha asked wide-eyed as Pietro helped her inside.

"Yeah," Todd nodded. "We just got back and turned the TV on and the first thing we saw was the news saying they caught all the escaped cons and they had a picture of 'em going back to jail. We saw your old man was one of 'em." He noticed Tabitha's shoulders slumped a little. "What'sa matter? That's good news ain't it?" 

"Sorry," Tabitha brightened. "I had a momentary lapse of sentiment for the bum. I'm over it now." 

"Yeah you don't need that jerk," Todd nodded. "He just used you and tossed you aside, pretty much like most other adults do! Who needs him?"

"Who needs him!" She smiled a broad smile. "And as a matter of fact, who needs Kurt either?"

"That's the spirit!" Pietro slapped her on the back.

Feeling empowered, Tabitha stuck her head out the window and yelled, "YOU HEAR ME BLUE! WHO NEEDS YOU! I DON'T NEED NO X-GEEK FREAK!"

"YEAH WHO NEEDS YA?" Todd stuck his head out the window too and blew a raspberry. 

"AS OF NOW, I TABITHA 'BOOM BOOM' SMITH AM A FREE WOMAN! YAHOOO!" She held her fist in the air. "So what are we waiting for? Let's get back to the party and make some noise! Yeah!" She ran downstairs.

"I think she's over him," Todd snickered as they went downstairs.

Tabitha turned on the volume of the stereo. "Hey let's turn up the music and party! Come on Speedy! Let's dance!" She grabbed Pietro's arm.

"You can't keep up with me!" Pietro laughed as he easily broke away. 

"A girl can try can't she?" Tabitha snickered. She danced the night away with her friends, forgetting all about Kurt. _There are better guys to go for,_ She thought to herself as she watched her insane friends with new eyes. Particularly a silver-haired speed demon. 


End file.
